Designed by a Utah family in 2010, the Squatty Potty ‘helps you to eliminate faster and more completely’ by forcing you to squat. (Credit: Grant Parpan)

One of 2014’s hottest holiday items wasn’t an expensive electronic device or an innovative kitchen gadget. It was a $25 plastic toilet stool called a Squatty Potty — and it sold out on shopping websites like Amazon.com before many people even had a chance to add it to their virtual wish lists. (more…)

• Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead will host an epilepsy support group Monday, March 9, from 7 to 8 p.m. in the resource room off the front lobby. The group provides encouragement, acceptance, comfort and empowerment. Patients, friends and family are all welcome. For information, or to recommend a speaker, contact Charlie Petersen at CharliePete71@aol.com or 728-2804. (more…)

• The next discussion in the Senior Wellness Education Series, ‘Coping Skills: Managing Stress and Your Emotions,’ will take place Friday, March 6, from 11 a.m. to noon at the town senior center at 750 Pacific St. in Mattituck. Older adults, their family, friends and caregivers are welcome. Call 298-4460 for information or to arrange transportation. This ongoing series is presented by Southold Town Human Services and Eastern Long Island Hospital. (more…)

You know when you’re lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking how badly you’d like to fall asleep?

It usually happens after thinking of just about everything else, which for me usually consists of creative story leads I can never remember, appointments I need to plan and when I last got my car’s oil changed. (more…)

Bill Faulk of Manorville puts himself on the national list of potential bone marrow donors by swabbing his cheeks at Saturday’s event with Joseph Latini (background, left) and organizer Patrick Gaeta. (Credit: Michael White)

Joseph Latini knows the odds aren’t in his dad’s favor.

Diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer called multiple myeloma late last summer, his 63-year-old father, also Joseph Latini, underwent two rounds of chemotherapy — only to then find out there were no matches for him among the 18 million potential bone marrow donors on the national registry.

Without a donor, the elder Mr. Latini’s chances of survival are low.

The Latini family set out to better the odds, however narrowly, with a series of donor drives throughout Long Island.

“My father and I are both in the same business; we’re in the banking industry,” the younger Mr. Latini said. “We understand the math. If he didn’t match 18 million, what am I going to swab a few thousand?

• Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead will host an epilepsy support group Monday, Feb. 9, from 7 to 8 p.m. in conference room A on the second floor. The group provides encouragement, acceptance, comfort and empowerment. Patients, friends and family are all welcome. For information, or to recommend a speaker, contact Charlie Petersen at CharliePete71@aol.com or 728-2804.

• A seven-week workshop for seniors, ‘Stepping On: Fall Prevention,’ will be offered Wednesdays, Feb. 11 to March 25, from 10 a.m. to noon at North Shore Public Library in Shoreham. Presented by the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, the series will focus on reducing the risk of falls and generally improving quality of life.

To register, call 929-4488.

• ‘Glow Bowling to Beat Breast Cancer,’ a PBMC Health fundraiser for the Long Island 2Day Walk, will take place Friday, Feb. 13, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Wildwood Lanes in Riverhead. Admission is $20 per person, which includes three hours of glow bowling, shoe rental, DJ music, two pizza slices and soda. There will also be “red pin” prizes, raffles, a 50/50 and giveaways. Call 369-2770 by Feb. 6 to register.

Peconic Bay Medical Center is set to begin construction on a new progressive care unit to care for patients in need of intermediate care following surgery, a wing that those at the hospital say will allow patients coming out of surgery to heal faster and more comfortably.

“This new unit has been a vision of the surgical staff for many years. It is the reflection of the expansion of the surgical program and the fact that we are treating more complex surgical patients,” said Andrew Mitchell, hospital CEO and president during a wall breaking ceremony Thursday morning. “Those patients require an intermediate level of care after their surgery.”